Ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini met with representatives of US companies who run a business in Slovakia. According to Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD), all US firms he has met during his visit of the USA are very pleased with their activities in Slovakia. "Many of them intend to continue developing their activities and might even plan to increase the number of jobs," stated Pellegrini on Thursday. However, they also addressed hot topics such as a part of the Slovak Labour Code that allows even a small number of employees who do not represent the majority to establish a trade union. Pellegrini informed the businesses about 21 new measures for industry that will guarantee a more stable and predictable legislative environment. "It seems that all companies have the hardest time dealing with laws with an economic impact that enter into force in the course of the year in which they were adopted. The companies can't adapt to that, they can't change their budgets," he explained. Companies such as U.S. Steel, IBM, AT&T and Amazon participated in the talks.
The Slovak Prime Minister also planned to invite US President Donald Trump to Slovakia. "Of course, it'd be a great honour for us if we could host him during an important event, however, the invitation which I'll address him is general and it will be up to the US side to decide if and when he visits Slovakia," reacted Pellegrini to reports that Trump could visit Slovakia in August when the country will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising in WWII.
On the occasion of his visit to the USA, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Thursday. He stated that if we speak of the Holocaust, we cannot mention only Jewish victims but we must also speak about all the people who were subjected to murder and extermination for different reasons. In this manner, as Pellegrini added, it is possible to gain more supporters of the idea that the problem did not concern only the Jewish community. Pellegrini and representatives of US Jewish organisations addressed how extremist political powers are gradually elbowing their way onto the political scene, many of them denying the terrors of the Holocaust. "I'm very glad that we have agreed that not only European political leaders but also leaders in different parts of the world have to wake up and start doing something about it because if we just observe it, it might end up just like 80 years ago when people also just sat back until it was too late," said Pellegrini. The premier also met an Auschwitz survivor, 89-year-old Ruth Cohen, who migrated to the USA. Today, Cohen is making efforts to make sure that history is remembered.
